Rev Ralph Galen - Meditation and Counseling Services

Join Us for Weekly Meditation

The “Beautiful Lotus in a Sea of Fire” meditation group/sangha has found a home at First Parish in Malden, Unitarian Universalist, 2 Elm Street. We meet Wednesdays from 7pm to 830pm (doors open at 6:30pm) in the library, where there is a lending library of books on meditation and spirituality.

We meet in person and on Zoom

This is mainly a practice group and mainly conducted in silence.

We promote engaged spirituality, meditation for life, and the power of spiritual friendship.

Free copies of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh’s “Miracle of Mindfulness” and Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s meditation manual, “With Each and Every Breath” will shortly be available. The late Thich Nhat Hanh is well remembered for his long life as a peace activist. For you busy activists, parents, partners, caretakers, etc. this is an opportunity to rejuvenate.

A Few Remarks on the Launch of the Beautiful Lotus in a Sea of Fire Meditation Group/Sangha

Dear Friends,

We’re glad you can make it in person or on line. The important thing is that you meditate and get the assistance you need. It’s a lifelong journey that we each make on our own and isn’t it great to have guides to point out the confusing and even treacherous spots on the path. My motto for just about everything is, “I need all the help I can get.” And I’m grateful for having gotten plenty.

The title of our gathering comes from Thich Nhat Hanh’s first book in English, “Lotus in a Sea of Fire.”

Thay, as he’s called, grew up in the French Occupation of Vietnam and the American War in Vietnam where he was a peace negotiator and became friends with Dr. Martin Luther King who was a kindred nonviolent activist. The Miracle of Mindfulness” was a manual he wrote for the ten thousand young people of The School for Youth for Social Service who went into the distressed and bombed out villages in the North and South and provided physical and spiritual aid. It was very difficult. Some were tortured, kidnapped and murdered and regarded with suspicion on all political sides. But they persevered, leaving the protection of the monasteries to practice engaged Buddhism.

As this is written we can attest that there has never been a more crucial time to bring the wisdom of our various traditions and practices out into a hurting world, after first finding a measure of peace in our hearts.
When the students returned from the field they were battle weary and needed to recuperate. Thay developed The Day of Mindfulness which was a sabbath for recuperation.

Is this a Buddhist group? A Unitarian Universalist group? A secular group?

The answer is “yes.” Meditation, awareness, mindfulness, compassion, love and understanding are not owned by a particular tradition. Central but not exclusive to Beautiful Lotus are two meditation practice manuals: The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh and With Each and Every Breath from the Thanissaro Bhikkhu of the Metta Monastery. The first graciously sets the tone of our practice and the second offers very skillful instructions.

Beautiful Lotus will offer similar opportunities.

At first they will be half-days and explore the many dimensions of our daily life. Grieving, understanding anger, coping with chronic illness, developing better relationships, finding joy even in the midst of hardship, parenting, good humor, self-compassion, forgiveness. As Alexis Zorba put it, and Hokusai painted it, “the full catastrophe!”
We emphasize that this is a practice group that takes place largely in silence. If anyone can handle that age doesn’t matter.
Thanks to our webmaster, these sites are under development and will contain information that can help us live more skilled and joyful lives and create peace wherever we are.

The general outline of our meetings is

1. Enter in silence 2. Settle in 3. Practice Gratitude 4. Practice Goodwill 5. Grounding in the body and easing into the breathing 6. Practicing meditation 7. Leaving meditation, which is to say, not leaving meditation and being mindful wherever and whenever.
We’ll practice walking meditation.
A short presentation, a reading, talk, video or exercise.
We’ll conclude with a time for “dharma sharing,” which is a time to concisely share from our hearts, as the spirit moves us, to what has arisen. And at the very end have a “metta sharing,” lighting candles of joys and sorrows.

beautifullotusinaseaoffire.com
beautifullotusinaseaoffire.org

Facebook: Beautiful Lotus in a Sea of Fire

For more information/to dialogue/for the Zoom link, send us your email using this form:

Contact Us

Fill out this form and send a request to receive the link to join on on Zoom. We're here to help. If Wednesdays don’t work for you we love to share the practice at other times.